The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui, said in his blog "Financial Resources Theory" that the virtual asset ecosystem includes some over-the-counter (OTC) exchanges. The government believes that it is necessary to bring OTC exchanges under regulation and will launch a consultation on the proposed regulatory framework in the short term. It is hoped that citizens and stakeholders will actively express their opinions.
Xu Zhengyu mentioned that the government established a licensing system and regulatory requirements for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), which were implemented in June last year. Currently, two licensed virtual asset trading platforms have passed the license upgrade and can provide Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trading services to retail investors. The licensed platforms are regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission.
He said that as the deadline for existing service providers to submit license applications to comply with the transitional arrangements will expire at the end of this month, the SFC is now actively preparing for law enforcement and will step up publicity efforts to update the list of virtual asset trading platforms to the public as soon as possible to ensure that the public knows clearly whether the relevant service providers have been issued licenses.
Xu Zhengyu also pointed out that the Treasury Bureau is consulting with the HKMA on legislative proposals for the regulatory system for stablecoin issuers. The HKMA will also launch a "sandbox" arrangement to convey regulatory expectations and provide compliance guidance to issuers who intend to and have specific plans to issue legal currency stablecoins in Hong Kong, while collecting their opinions on the proposed regulatory requirements to promote the implementation of the subsequent regulatory system and ensure that the system is in line with regulatory objectives. The two-month consultation will end at the end of this month, calling for submissions.